The Price of Peace
by leiaaaaa
Summary: Battle after battle, there seems to be no end in sight. The clans are trapped in an endless war; fighting the only constant in their dark lives. They all crave peace, but are the lives of their kits too high a price to pay? (Warriors/Hunger Games crossover, SYOC OPEN)


_Prologue_ _: The Price of Peace_

* * *

 _Swallowstar, leader of Thunderclan._

 _86 moons after the Great Battle._

* * *

She was old enough to remember a time in the history of the clans where there was no fighting. When she was merely a kit—too young to remember herself but old enough to remember the elder's tales about it—the Great Battle consumed the forest in a wave of violence. Kin was pitted against kin; friend was pitted against friend; clanmates were forced to kill each other in order to ensure their own survival. The lines of loyalty and trust were blurred, but in the end, Starclan came out victorious.

For moons after that, the clans lived in an era of peace, tending to their wounds and rebuilding the destruction that the great battle had ushered in. Bonds were mended and trust was restored between cats. No one had the energy or courage to pick a fight over a stolen rabbit or trespasser partially because they couldn't physically do it, and the other part due to their worry of their small skirmish escalating into a full out war. In addition, the clans felt some loyalty to each other after the Great Battle. For the first time in moons, they had united as one. That bond couldn't be broken overnight. They all felt some sort of allegiance towards one another, a loyalty that stretched across clan lines.

But nothing gold stays that way forever, and soon, the clans began to bicker again.

"I saw you a paw-step over the territory line!"

"You smelt like fish at the last gathering, were you swimming on our shores?"

"That was our rabbit, all rabbits belong to Windclan!"

They were all small complaints, nothing major at first. At the time, Swallowstar was still called Swallowflight—she was just a young warrior and had yet to receive her nine lives. She watched with wide eyes as the cats who had once fought alongside each other, began to forget about each other's valiant acts. They only saw the bad in each other: their flaws, their mistakes, their sins. The good they had once seen was gone, replaced by a darkness that was threatening to consume them all.

To make matters worse, the clans' populations were beginning to swell. With little fighting, less cats were dying. Yet, the population of prey wasn't growing as rapidly as that of the clan's. If anything, it was declining. Soon, cats were growing hungry. Desperate, they began to steal from each other's territories, doing anything to fill their rumbling bellies.

The era of peace came to a close. The clans turned to fighting in order to solve their problems, hungry and irrational. Even Swallowstar, who had considered herself a rather rational person, did some questionable things during the starving time. Most pungent in her mind was the time she had killed a Shadowclan apprentice over a measly squirrel—all of which was practically skin and bone. It was tragic, but it was equally necessary.

The clans had been ushered into a new, violent era: one of anarchy.

Even as the population leveled out, the violence didn't end. Cats continued to fight over the smallest things, completely forgetting about each other's brave acts during the Great Battle. Allegiances were blurred again; cats no longer knew who to trust and who to not.

For moons, the clans were trapped in an endless war, and no one knew what to do. Cats were dying; clans were being destroyed, corrupted from within. Starclan was angry yet powerless to the destruction unfolding beneath their paws. The clans had foresaken them, and soon, they were left in the dark with no stars to guide them.

Desperate for a solution to this problem, Swallowstar and the other three leaders tasked their clanmates to come up with a solution to their grave problem. Soon, a senior warrior from Windclan came up with an idea: an annual games to control the population, where cats between the ages of six and twenty-four moons were thrown into an arena and not allowed to return until one remained. Those who could not remember the era of peace must have been the cause of the constant fighting, _so why not kill them off?_

It was the best idea they received. With the installation of these games, the clans would vow not to fight each other for the whole year. It was a solution to their problem, and although it questioned their morality, what else could they do? _Let the fighting continue and let more cats die?_ To Swallowstar, the answer was clear. She needed to do what was best for her clan—and the rest of the forest.

The other leaders agreed, and the news was spread throughout the clans. Any who protested were swiftly silenced, and a date was set for their opening: the next full moon. Four cats would be chosen from each clan, two toms and two shes. Each would then be taken to a remote territory, watched over by senior warriors and not allowed to come home until only one remained. The victor would be welcomed back wondrously by their clan, and any escapees would be killed on spot. Cats prepared, and the leaders turned to their medicine cats to pick the names of the cats who would be representing their clan in the competition.

Finally, the day of the choosing arrived and a cold, harsh wind with it.

Let the Peace Games commence.

* * *

 _Hello everyone, and welcome to Starless! As you can see, the clans have drifted off into a very, very dark place and as a result, a hunger Games like scenario has happened. Who's excited? I am!_

 _Now, to the details._

 _These will be somewhat standard Hunger Games format: 16 "tributes", 1 arena, 1 victor. There won't be a parade, training, or interviews though, we're just going to go straight from the reaping to the games. I'll be accepting 8 tributes from you all, a tom and a she from each clan, all of whom will get POVs and one of which will eventually be our winner. I'll fill out the rest myself, though they won't be featured or be able to win._

 _Here's the form, and it's not a first-come-first served, though if I get a really good tribute I'll reserve the spot for you. It's on my profile too, for those of you who want to copy-and-paste-it. There's not a deadline yet, but there will be one soon._

Name:

Clan:

Gender:

Age (6-24 moons):

Appearance:

Personality (2-3 sentences, preferably more):

Family/Friends:

Reaction to Being "Reaped":

Opinion of the Games:

Fight or Flight Instinct?:

Please Rate on a Scale of 1-10, (1 being awful and 10 being best ever):

Fighting Abilities:

Hunting Abilities:

Speed:

Stamina:

Stealth:

Intelligence:

Willingness to Kill:

Anything Else?:

I will not be accepting review tributes, so please, PM it to me.


End file.
